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Senate candidate backs US budget cutting agencies, aid

ST. PAUL — Republican U.S. Senate candidate Kurt Bills says he would support eliminating four federal Cabinet departments, instituting a 17-percent flat tax for individuals and corporations, means-testing Social Security and raising the retirement age.

Bills, a Rosemount high school teacher, filed paperwork Tuesday to run against the Democratic incumbent, U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar.

Bills is backing a budget proposed by U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky. The plan aims for a balanced budget within five years through deep cuts to federal spending and entitlements.

Bills says he also supports the plan's proposed $5 billion yearly cap on foreign aid, which would be a major reduction from the roughly $50 billion budgeted for that in 2012.

The Rand Paul budget got just 16 out of 100 votes in a recent U.S. Senate floor vote.